Um, where did the year go? It felt like just a few days ago I was starting my race training. But no, one week from today, I will be running my half marathon! I’m doing the 5K & Half Marathon Challenge Series for Cleveland this year, and race weekend is coming up!

This week I spent trying to keep up my mileage, stay injury free, and stay sane. Easy goals, huh? I should have added “get more sleep” to my goals because my sleep this week was awful — 4-5 hours/night. And I am pooped! I leave for a work trip today, and that includes late nights and early mornings, so my sleep won’t be much better. Not the best before race day, but I’ll try my best.

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Well, I’m back in the swing of things and getting started with BUSY season in life and work! My work annual meeting is in May, school ends in May, spring and summer sports overlap in May, I have 2 trips planned, and it seems that every other possible event (ballet recital! piano recital! etc) is in May. So to all the parents out there – and everyone else who is busy – YOU GOT THIS!

But because it’s MAY here’s a quick look at April:

• Kept up my weight training, 4x a week
• Stayed uninjured
• Ran 150+ miles again for the month
• Got in lots of walking when I could – and finally some outdoor walks!

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What a wonderful, busy, crazy week! We started off with Easter, and ended with a wedding celebration of my husband’s youngest brother and the last of his (5) siblings to get married. The wedding was on a Friday, and rehearsal on Thursday, plus a brunch and baseball game Saturday. Oh, and it was also spring break for my oldest 2 kids. So yeah, the week was a little different than usual.

Here’s how it looked:

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Could spring finally truly be here? We had a week with spring-like temperatures, rain, and some warmer days! I know it could turn at any moment, but it was great to run outside and enjoy what felt like FINALLY spring! It was so nice that I ran outside FIVE days this week – the first time since December I’ve been able to get outside for that many days!

Here’s how it looked:

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This week was pretty standard – with the exception of a quick trip to New York City! I had a quick trip in to see a friend whose husband has been in town for medical reasons, and we ended up having a short reunion with 3 of my best high school friends. It was great to see her, even if it was for a short amount of time and also not the best circumstances. So, my weekly workouts were a little off, knowing that I was not home Friday-Sunday. But it did include a run in NYC (albeit in 30 degrees and rain) with my friends!

Anyway, here was the day-by-day:

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Hooray for April! April in Cleveland means the weather is starting to get warm – but who am I kidding, it’s also 30 degrees and could snow any day now.

March was a good month in terms of training. I got in nearly 160 miles of running, stuck to my 4x a week strength training and miraculously have remained uninjured! Can I keep this up until race day? I sure hope so!

Here’s how it looked:

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March is ALMOST OVER, which means it’s almost race month. There are less than 50 days until race weekend. Eeek! I’m excited and can’t believe we’re already almost there. Spring officially is here, but it has been a roller coaster of weather here in Northeast Ohio. Sunday was old (started in the 20s/30s), and mid-week it snowed (but thankfully didn’t stick, and then yesterday (Saturday) I woke up at 5 a.m. to 68 degrees! It’s supposed to cool down again, but I’m enjoying the warm weather when it comes. I got in a mix of treadmill running, walking indoors and outdoors, and weight training, and it was a pretty standard week. Here’s how it looked:

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I know March “comes in like a lion,” but we are halfway through, and it’s still feeling lion-like to me! We had two gorgeous days this week (Tues and Wed) and then it was all downhill from there temperature-wise. These spring days that come and go are such a tease!

That was the summary. Now here’s the day-by-day:

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And just like that, we’re halfway through March! This week included a pretty wide variety of things going on – we got in some travel over the weekend which meant a short hotel gym run, it was beautiful weather later in the week which meant some outdoor runs (!), and the week started with an EARLY workout (aka 4 a.m. on a Sunday after Daylight Savings which felt like 3 a.m.).  We were all suffering from sleep deprivation after the time change, but I’m hoping we made it to the other end and are used to it finally. 

That was the summary. Now here’s the day-by-day:

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Yes, it’s cliche to say that March comes in like a lion, but it really has in Cleveland! March 1 started with snow, and then we got more snow and some more freezing days. We didn’t get a lot of snow, but just enough over a few nights that at 5 a.m. when I’d like to run it was dark and a little icy so that I stayed inside. I’m hoping it really does goes out like a lamb so we can get some warmth and clear sidewalks soon!

This week was a full week with lots of kid sports, and I’m tired just thinking about it. This week I also officially started my Cleveland Half Marathon training! I’m doing a plan where I try to incorporate one day a week of speed work (my nemesis), so we’ll see how that goes. I’m hoping I can stick with it and maybe see an improvement in my pace this year. If anything, I’m shaking things up! 

This is the first time that I’m training for a half marathon WHILE also lifting weights. I’m not sure if that’s going to be a good thing or a bad thing – or if I can keep it up the full training cycle, but I’ll try my best and see how it impacts my running.

Here’s how the week looked:

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